Gero Competencies

Since 1998, the Hartford curriculum development projects have used a competency-based approach to the infusion of gerontological (gero) social work content in classroom and field curricula. The competency-based education approach of the CSWE 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) focuses on student outcomes that are based in practice behaviors; that is, what a student must learn and be able to do. It stipulates 10 competencies common to all social work practice that apply to both generalist and advanced practice.

Programs may build and apply these 10 competencies in an area of concentration, such as aging, which derives from their mission, goals, and context. In 2008-09, a national Task Force for Advanced Gero Practice linked gero social work competencies to the 2008 EPAS practice behaviors. The Gero-Ed Center and the Hartford Partnership Program in Aging Education (HPPAE) partnered to ensure consistency of one set of gero competencies for all the GSWI programs, the Geriatric Social Work Competency Scale II With Life-Long Leadership Skills.